New England Patriots put it together for three quarters to destroy Cincinnati Bengals
New England Patriots defeated Cincinnati Bengals 38-13 on the road, but it wasn’t until the fourth quarter that the game turned into a rout where the Bengals were stopped cold over and over while the Patriots suddenly became unstoppable.
While New England took the lead in the middle of the second quarter on an 11-yard power-sweep left by Laurence Maroney, the Patriots held only a slim 14-13 lead in the third quarter, after Rudi Johnson scored on a two-yard touchdown run.
Patriots struck right back with a drive that once again ended with Maroney scoring a run, this time 25 yard run up the middle, where Logan Mankins, Daniel Graham, Dan Koppen, Nick Kaczur and wide-receiver Troy Brown cleared out the middle of Cincinnati’s defense. Maroney then broke to sidelines and sprinted for the score, stiff-arming a defender along the way.
New England’s drive ended in 24 yard field goal, and then came four drives that destroyed Bengals comeback hopes, and even their hopes of keeping the score respectable.
First Jarvis Green sacked and stripped Cincinnati’s quarterback Carson Palmer, and recovered the fumble, giving New England the ball at Bengals 13 yard line. From there Bill Belichick gave former Bengal Corey Dillon five carries to score a touchdown on 4th-and-goal from the one yard line.
On the next drive, Ty Warren and Tedy Bruschi downed Palmer and Warren recovered at Bengals 29 yard line. Three runs by Maroney took the ball to the 5 yard line, Heath Evans advanced it to the two and from there Brady tossed a play action pass left to a wide open Daniel Graham in the end zone.
Cincinnati’s next drive was slowed down by another two sacks by Green and ended with a punt with just over five minutes remaining, not nearly enough time for a beaten Bengals offense to have a chance to catch up.
It was not a particularly well played game, with two teams combining for 30 penalties. New England racked up 236 yards in rushing against Bengals 71. Maroney rushed for 125 yards on 15 carries, Dillon 67 on 17 and Evans 5 on 12. On top of that, Tom Brady chipped in with 21 yards on 2 carries, including one for 22 yards, his longest ever as a Patriot. Chad Jackson got 10 yards on a reverse where Brady made a functional block.
Brady tossed two touchdowns and one pretty trivial interception. His first touchdown pass was a beauty, a 25 yard toss down the left sideline against a heavy pass rush to Doug Gabriel.
The offensive line played well throughout the game, and right tackle Wesley Britt had a serviceable start in place of the injured Ryan O’Callaghan. However, much of the big yardage must be credited to Maroney’s speed. He really made the most out of his runs today. Maroney’s first score came out of the familiar power-formation, with two tight ends to the left and Evans at fullback. Actually, there was a slight change: Ben Watson was on the strong side. Watson had a good day run-blocking against the Bengals, his best this season.
For most of the game New England’s pass rush looked like it has so often this year: Unable to get to the quarterback even with the help of blitzes. Then suddenly they started to get to Palmer and finished off the Bengals.
The defensive line remains the strongest part of the defense, but the secondary must have had a heck of a game considering the usually explosive Bengals got little out of there passing game. It is all the more impressive considering the disarray the secondary is in personnel wise.
This was an important victory for the Patriots. Cincinnati is a good team, one of the three strongest on the first half of New England’s regular-season schedule.
Bill Belichick at the post-game press conference:
On his team’s good field position.
“It was great to have.”
On his players:
“They certainly deserved the outcome.”
On Troy Brown playing defensive back:
“Little rusty, but not bad, not bad.” on Troy playing defense.
On the drive that culminated with Dillon’s touchdown:
“That was a big drive.”
Tom Brady at his post-game press conference:
“Dad, are you kidding me? Not you, too!” Tom Brady was tired of hearing about his “body language” after last week’s loss to Denver Broncos.
Round-up of Cincinnati media reactions.
Bengals-fan Clint at Olde 320 Pub has a lengthy list of concerns after his team’s loss to New England.
T.J. Houshmandzadeh, making a fool of himself after the game:
“They’d trade player for player with us any day,” said T.J. Houshmandzadeh, who might have been the only Cincinnati representative to actually acquit himself well in Sunday’s 38-13 home defeat. “It’s frustrating because I feel like we’re the better team by far, but the score indicates they were the better team by far.”
…
“I don’t understand it,” said the Bengals’ still-rising receiver (four catches, 95 yards). “I didn’t see any way they could beat us.
“There’s no way, when I play the game in my head, I thought we would lose. I thought through the different scenarios, and not in one scenario did we come out losing, especially like this. Not with the type of players we have. I just don’t see it.”
That’s probably what the Saint Louis Rams thought in February 2002, along with at least a half-dozen other teams since then.
